As most North American downtown areas seek to attract new visitors and inhabitants, urban planners and other decision-makers increasingly realize that one of the most effective ways to create vibrant downtown core places is to effectively engage peripheral communities.
The 2nd Annual Downtown Ice & Fire Carnival is remarkable not only in that it is driven by artists, culture, sport and business communities working collaboratively to shape this work in progress into an event that has within itself the ability to touch every citizen.
The Carnival is also exceptional because it temporarily reshapes the familiar downtown landscape of Victoria Park, Scarth Street and the buildings that line them into places that for a few days or a few hours assume an different, almost refreshed vigour in a way.
Lynda Schneekloth and Robert Shibley have written in their classic book titled “Placemaking: The Art of Building Communities” that "Placemaking is the way all of us as human beings transform the places in which we find ourselves into places in which we live.
The Downtown Ice & Fire Carnival does just that with the help of many communities within Regina taking ownership of the winter downtown landscape to create new rituals, landmarks and activities, thereby renewing our cognitive map of Regina and enriching that which we all makeup together: the City.
The Carnival; the Masquarade Ball; Ice & Fire Shinny Tournament and the Rendez-vous Together could be viewed as a self-administered collective therapy that helps us look at the brighter aspects of winter, while at the same time bringing us closer to understanding the ties that unite us as citizens of Regina.
Comments